A Whole New Season

Its almost here!
Its almost time for turkey, Christmas trees, stockings, more turkey, Christmas lights, relatives, christmas candles, and did I mention turkey? oh how I love this time of year.

Growing up my family had several traditions that just made the holidays.  Putting up the christmas tree at thanksgiving, Christmas morning cinnamon rolls, reading the christmas story after the Christmas eve service, and watching Christmas movies. I always looked forward to these certain traditions. But things are a little different this year. This year I will decorate my own tree in my own house with my Husband. How cool is that?!

A few days ago Justin asked me what kind of traditions we will start this year. What things will we do this year that we will carry for years to come. Things that our future children will look forward to each year. Im so excited to begin a new holiday season with my husband and start our own family traditions. 

What are some of your favorite family traditions that you and your family do each year?

I'm just getting started

Sit down, I'm about to reveal something monumental.

I'm the worst blogger ever.

Contain your shock.

I know I haven't posted in several months. I'm going to get better. I will learn how to fit blogging into my "when do I breath again?" schedule.

Over the past few weeks I have added a few new things to this schedule. One being spending a few mornings a week at a lifelong leaning center for adults with disabilities. There are 68 students, ages 15-60, with disabilities including cerebral palsy, Downs Syndrome, Autism, to Aspergers just to name a few. What a new experience. If your looking for something that will push you over the cliff of your comfort zone this is it. On day one as I walked in the front doors of the center I was immediately surrounded by students welcoming me and showing me around.

Within the first few hours I had made 68 new friends.

I have grown to love and adore each and every student. I have been loved and accepted for who I am. No questions asked.

This experience got me thinking, why can't I love others like that? Immediate acceptance, no questions asked. Instead I make assumptions, I judge and I question others. I will be totally honest and blunt with you, at times I assume that someone in a bad situation did something bad to get themselves there. At times I feel like I'm better than others. Im selfish when it comes to my time and especially my money. There are days where I feel sorry for myself and there are days where people just straight up piss me off. I could go on and on and on.

How ugly am I?

A few months ago someone told me "how you love others is how you love God". Well crap, Im most certainly not loving God very well lately. I have done some ugly things in my life. Some really unloving things. But man oh man has God been graciously showing me what I should be doing. I want to be like the students I work with. I want to accept someone not for what they do or how they look or even what they act like. I want to love someone simply because my God loves them. No strings attached.

I want to weep when I see others hurting, not wonder what they did to get themselves in that situation. I want to give of my time and money like it's never ending, not hoard it like i'll never have more. I want to pray for people I have never met, not yell at them for cutting me off as they scream to someone on their phone. I want to love others so truly and so deeply that they wonder what's wrong with me, not be just like every other person.
I want to love my God not just in my home or in my church but everywhere I will ever go and through everyone I will ever meet. I know I can't be perfect, nobody can be, but I know for a fact that I could do way better than I'm doing now.

Hold me to this. Seriously.

And I challenge you to do the same.

If you have made it this far then Thanks for reading.

More than chicken

The second we got back from our honeymoon I realized that my knowledge of cooking was extremely limited. The few times I had cooked for Justin before the wedding the meals were generally the same, chicken and some sort of veggie. Why doesn't someone warn you that once married your husband is not going to want to eat grilled chicken and canned green beans every night?


So, in my attempt to be a good "homemaker" I have been trying to expand my skills and much to my surprise, I'm a decent cook! Iv enjoyed making things up, trying a few new recipes and finding out which spices complement each other and which should NEVER be paired together. Thankfully I have successfully fed my husband decently and found some meals that he loves!

Part of me wonders if I'm setting my self up with some high expectations in the kitchen that I might regret later ;) 


Thought I would share a few of the best with you!

Homemade mashed potatoes and Rosemary pork chops

A yummy pot roast

Marinated steak with pan seared garlic asparagus 

An amazing pasta that I ended up making up.
Justin called in "incredible" :)
and he's a brutally honest man

My moms Jambalaya Recipe!

By far the best cookies I have EVER made!! So good you forget about the calories! 

Oh, and I have to Give credit to my friend Mallory Sibley for the "Hamel Time" name. She is the witty one here ;)

The new Mr. & Mrs. Hamel!!!

Even writing the title of this blog is weird. I can't believe it, we are married! The last few months have been a complete whirlwind of changes and memories (all good!).

Justin and I said "I do" 3 weeks ago and have been settling in to married life well. I have been learning the role of a wife, while Justin takes on the role of provider for our new little family.

Over the last month or so I have been in complete amazement at the blessing the lord has given us. Family that gave up so much time and energy into making our wedding perfect, Friends that traveled literally thousands of miles to be with us, and both Justin and I gaining a new family that loves us and accepted us with open arms. But the biggest blessing I have come across so far is the blessing of marrying your best friend. How cool is it that we get to come home to each other every day?! To have someone that would give their life for me and to love someone so much that I would do the same is such an overwhelming feeling.

I look forward to sharing our journey with you and ask that you join with us in prayer for our new family as we strive to serve the lord and glorify him through this new chapter in our lives.

I will add wedding pictures as soon as I get them, until then here are a few honeymoon pictures:)

 We relaxed on the beach all day!

Our first day in paradise (aka Antigua)

We built a castle or two ;)

We got to dress up for dinner every night

The water was so amazing